ERIC ED445138: A Symbiosis of Sorts: School Violence and the Media. Choices Briefs, Number 7.

7 Pages·2000·0.15 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 445 138
UD 033 734
AUTHOR
Maeroff, Gene I.
TITLE
A Symbiosis of Sorts: School Violence and the Media. Choices
Briefs, Number 7.
INSTITUTION
Columbia Univ., New York, NY. Inst. for Urban and Minority
Education.
SPONS AGENCY
Metropolitan Life Foundation.
PUB DATE
2000-00-00
NOTE
6p.
PUB TYPE
Information Analyses (070)
EDRS PRICE
MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS
Elementary Secondary Education; *Mass Media Effects; Mass
Media Role; *Minority Groups; *News Reporting; *School
Safety; *Violence
ABSTRACT
This brief examines the effects of media coverage of school
violence on school violence. The news media take notice precisely because
shootings in a school are unusual. The media did not take much notice of
shootings in the 1980s and 1990s in inner city communities because these
infractions were not judged to be anomalies; they did not measure up to the
common definition of news, being exactly what some white journalists expected
in minority communities. The effects of media coverage may be an increase in
the fear of youth violence and the occurrence of copycat incidents. Violence
portrayed in the electronic media can be particularly harmful because
children connect more readily with visual images. The intensive coverage of a
few high profile shootings may mislead the public into thinking that violence
in the schools is pervasive. The media has a responsibility to keep events in
perspective and to respect the privacy of students. Another aspect of the
media's relationship with the schools stems from the zero tolerance policies
meant to draw a line against violence at the school door. These
well-intentioned policies have had some clumsy effects when schools are
forced to apply a one-penalty-fits-all consequence that can make school
officials look foolish. Schools should use good educational practice rather
than Draconian punishments to persuade students to reject violence. (Contains
22 references.)
(SLD)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
A Symbiosis of Sorts: School Violence and the Media
Choices Briefs Number 7, 2000
Gene I. Maeroff
Institute for Urban and Minority Education
Teachers College, Columbia University
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1
Choices
Institute for Urban and Minority Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY
Number 7
2000
A SYMBIOSIS OF SORTS: SCHOOL VIOLENCE AND THE MEDIA
The names roll off the tongue like a litany of battlefields: tions make the news, as they do in all areas of human endeav-
Pearl, Mississippi; West Paducah, Kentucky; Jonesboro,
or. Is it reasonable, then, to expect the news media to ignore
or even downplay violence when it occurs in schools? The
Arkansas; Edinboro, Pennsylvania; Springfield, Oregon; and
Littleton, Colorado. These places have been war zones of a
very fact that schools are supposed to be safe havens makes
sort, infamous sites of school violence that have captured
violent acts newsworthy. There is the ever-present aim of the
media to explain the inexplicable, to make sense of the irra-
headlines across the country and reaped hours of coverage on
network television. The schools and the media sometimes
tional. The media have always been attracted to oddities and
seem locked in a symbiotic dance of death, making it difficult
mysteries. So what can be more odd and mysterious than ado-
lescents shooting down their classmates! In the suburbsthe
to think about school violence without taking note of its con-
nection to the ever-present media.
white suburbs, no less.
What does this link between school violence and the
The Media's Record
media mean? How closely are the two really related? Is the
criticism of the media for their possible role in fomenting vio-
lence reasonable? Or may it be a case of wanting to kill the
Selective Coverage
messenger simply because the messenger is, both figuratively
Where were the media during the 1980s and the 1990s
and literally, the reporter? This is, after all, a violent society
when African American and Latino youngsters were toting
and it has been since its earliest days. The U.S. is a country
guns and shooting each otherin schools, near schools, on
where guns often can be bought over the counter as easily as
toaster ovens, where films are replete with images of death,
the way to and from schools, and during drive-by shootings in
and where violent video games capture the time and attention
the 'hood? The tacit answer is that little heed was paid by the
media because these infractions did not measure up to the
of legions of pubescent males.
common definition of news. They were not judged to be
Within the schools, bullying, misogyny, gay bashing, and
anomalies. The incidents, after all, were what some white
outright attacks on students, and even teachers, have been reg-
journalists expected in minority neighborhoods. And so we
ular features. Some students find models for their violent acts
among their own parents. In Brooklyn's East New York sec-
search in vain through news columns and videotapes of news-
tion, on the last day of school in June 1999, an elementary
casts for more than the occasional in-depth report on children
school student dissatisfied with the grades her teacher had
killing each other in and out of schools in Anacostia, in East
LA, in Bed-Stuy, and in Roxbury. Just in the first half of the
marked on her report card ran home to complain to her moth-
er. Daughter and mother returned to school and, together,
1999-2000 school year alone, some dozen and a half school-
aged children were killedaway from schoolsin the
assaulted the teacher, who suffered contusions, scratches, and
bruises to the head, face, hands, and arm. A judge sent the
District of Columbia, with hardly a mention in the news media
mother to jail for 60 days and put her on probation for three
outside Washington.
To some degree, this has been the media's historic
years.
approach in reporting on crime generally: violence in minori-
Lest anyone think this is a purely American phenomenon,
it is worth noting that a wave of violence in French schools
ty communities has not received the amount of coverage that
during Winter 1999-2000 led to school closings as teachers
the same incident gets if it occurs in affluent white neighbor-
hoods. "What's ironic to me, and especially to many of my
and parents protested the rising level of violence among stu-
black students, is that Columbine and the major incidents of
dents. And we can hardly forget the gunman at the school in
Dunblane, Scotland, who killed 16 students and a teacher in
school violence that have sparked the recent national concern
1996. But it should surprise no one that schoolsin the
over safety were perpetrated by white kids," wrote Patrick
United States or almost anywhere elseand the areas sur-
Welsh (2000), an English teacher at T.C. Williams High
rounding them are occasionally sites of violent acts involving
School in Alexandria, Virginia. "To black students, the refrain
couldn't happen here' coming from
`We believed
it
children. This is where young people congregate; this is where
Columbine and other communities was code for 'We didn't
their perceived grievances are apt to be manifest.
think white kids could do a thing like this.
The news media take notice precisely because shootings
And so it is that school violence in places where the
in school are unusual. News comprises aberrations. Most
media least expect it, in predominantly white suburbs and
schools most of the time are, in fact, safe places. The excep-
3
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bucolic rural locales, has been a magnet to reporters. There
around the country are enacting legislation aimed at perpetra-
may be no end to the milking of what journalists regard as a
tors, according to Education Week (Blair, 2000). Penalties
include suspension of drivers' licenses, expulsion from
"good" story. Newspapers and television outlets seek what is
known in the trade as a "news peg"a justification on which
school, and damage payments assessed against parents.
a story can be hungeven long after the event itself.
What are the media to do? The media's apparent policy is
Anniversaries of news events, including those involving
not to report all bomb scares, though this might be because
school violence, become occasions for revisiting the story.
editors consider such incidents as unnewsworthy (unless a
Officials at Columbine High School, keenly aware that this
bomb is discovered), not because they want to limit copycat
would happen on April 20, 2000, exactly one year after the
acts. But, in the wake of actual violent incidents, this policy
shootings, even scheduled news briefings in the weeks leading
becomes more difficult to follow. "Our policy on bomb threats
up to the anniversary to help the reporters prepare their stories.
used to be that we just didn't report on them," said Jennifer
Brett, a reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "We felt
Effects of Coverage
it would just encourage the practice. But then the Heritage
High School shooting happened [in Conyers, Georgia, where
six students were shot] and for a while after that anything
What effect does this media coverage actually have? Does
it incite others to violence, creating so-called copycat inci-
would really raise a red flag and we'd go racing. Since then,
dents? Do incidents increase in the wake of coverage? Would
our policy has been back to what it was before: we try to
the seventh-grader who shot and killed his teacher in Lake
assess on a case-by-case basis" (Hechinger Institute, 2000).
Worth, Florida, on the last day of school in May 2000 have
done so if the earlier murders at Columbine and violence by
Violence Reporting by the Visual Media
students in other locales had been downplayed by the media?
One can hardly give a definitive answer to such questions. A
Debates over journalistic treatment of school violence
recent report maintains that public fears about youth violence
should distinguish between portrayals in print and those on
have been mounting even as evidence accumulates that such
television. The difference has to do with the different natures
incidents have been decreasing; school-associated violent
of the two media. Television provides an immediacy that print
deaths decreased from 43 in 1998 to 26 in 1999, including the
can seldom duplicate. Television is graphic, in your face; print
shootings at Columbine (Schiraldi & Ziedenberg, 2000).
is easier to ignore. The upshot is that violence in the electron-
ic media can be particularly harmful because children more
Fear of Youth Violence. Nonetheless, the portion of
readily connect with visual images (Koziey, 1996). Watching
Americans who believed that a shooting was likely in their
this sort of action appears to desensitize the young and lead to
neighborhood school rose from 49 percent to 70 percent dur-
aggressive behavior (Levine, 1996; Simmons, Stalsworth, &
ing the same one-year period (Brooks,
Schiraldi, &
Wentzel, 1999). Yet, while aggression may be triggered in
Ziedenberg, 2000), perhaps indicating that the media help stir
some children, these tendencies may already be present in
them and not be a result of their television-watching
fears by focusing on the relatively few fatal incidents inside
(Primavera, Herron, & Jauier,
school buildings. Consider the difference between the percep-
1996). The young people
tions of teachers and the general public when it comes to
inclined to watch the most violent fare may be those who
school safety. Only 24 percent of the public describe the learn-
already are most predisposed to violence. As an analogue, the
ing environment for children in schools as "very safe and
students who do worst in school tend to watch the most tele-
orderly," while 43 percent of teachersthe adults who are in
vision, but this is not to say that there is a cause and effect. It
those classrooms every day and rely least on the accounts of
cannot be declared definitively that violence in the media
the mediadeem the classrooms very safe and orderly
begets violence in the larger society and in schools in particu-
(Langdon & Vesper, 2000).
lar.
Perhaps the problem, in part, rests with the disproportion-
Television news predicates much of its approach on
retaining viewers. The implications for newscasts are
ate amount of coverage that criminal incidents of any kind
tend to receive when juveniles are involved, leading people to
appalling. Television news directors and reporters feel com-
think that
youth violence
ubiquitous. Kathryn C.
is
pelled to present information in short, punchy takes; there is
Montgomery of the Center for Media Education, speaking at
little time for elucidation. Depictions of violence lend them-
a 2000 seminar of Teacher College's Hechinger Institute on
selves to this practice, with outlets such as Court TV, a cable
Education and the Media, estimated that two-thirds of the cov-
network, using footage of actual crimes as a source of enter-
erage of crime by the media deals with acts by juveniles
tainment. Jim Squires (1998), a veteran political reporter and
despite the fact that they are responsible for only one-third of
a former editor of the Chicago Tribune, maintains that the
the crime. Furthermore, less than
1 percent of homicides
broadcast industry has surrendered to the entertainment indus-
among 12- to 19-year-olds occur in schools, and 90 percent of
try, and that news in the visual media is valued not for its
the schools in the United States report no violent crimes (Fast
inherent importance or public service "but for its ability to
Facts About School Violence, 1999). This is clearly a nation
attract an audience and turn a profit." And there is evidence
that fears its young, and the media must bear some measure of
that children are frightened when violence figures in the news
blame for that sad situation.
(Cantor & Nathanson, 1996). None of this is to say that tele-
vision is not capable of distinguished journalism or that the
Copycat Incidents. On the other hand, though young
medium is inherently inferior to print. In dissecting the cover-
people may not be inclined to shoot their classmates as a result
age of the school shootings in Jonesboro, Ed Turner (1998)
of seeing an account of their peers doing so, they may take
concluded that television "scored few major hits, but it didn't
other, less egregious, actions. For example, they may be
commit any major blunders. The nightly newscasts were thor-
inspired by the coverage of youth violence to call in bomb
ough, if lacking real depth..."
threats in an effort to disrupt schools and wield some power.
Coverage of a topic as sensitive and subtle as violence in
In fact, bomb scares have become so prevalent that states
schools cannot fare well in the ratings-oriented climate in
4
which commercial television operates. This was illustrated in
lives. The National Education Association (NEA, n.d.), in the
San Antonio when a local television station broke a story
wake of the Columbine shootings, issued the following admo-
nition in an "open letter" to the news media: "...Although
about a possible shooting at an elementary school at 8:27 one
reporters have a very important job in gathering information
Fall morning in 1999. A rival television station followed five
minutes later with its own version of the story and that sta-
from the scene, we have learned that interviews with students
immediately following a crisis can cause unintended damage.
tion's radio counterpart interrupted its morning broadcast with
The first person a student should talk to following a
a report on the events. Viewers and listeners of these broadcast
tragedy...is a counselor, not a reporter." In a separate docu-
outlets heard about shots fired and people wounded. But noth-
ing had happened at the school; there had been gunshots fired ment, the NEA (2000) listed ten steps for newspeople, includ-
ing requests to avoid a repetition of violent images that pro-
on a highway miles away from the school (Pompilio, 2000).
vide "a false impression of schools" and to avoid focusing on
Violence as Entertainment in the Media
"lurid details and motivations of perpetrators."
The Chicago Sun-Times attracted attention when it
refused to put news of the shootings, first at Springfield, and
Violence is rampant in media entertainment that makes no
pretense of being journalism, though it is unclear whether
then at Columbine, on its front page. Both stories were rele-
such fare is so readily available because people want it or
gated to inside pages. The paper's editor, Nigel Wade, justified
whether people turn to it because it is so easy to obtain.
his decision on the basis that children were involved and the
Television programs, movies, video games, and even pop
situations were delicate. While critics might wish that more
news organizations exercised similar restraint, it is unlikely
music (such as the lyrics of some rap songs) seem not to hes-
of
universe
depict Arnold
itate violence.
that many will emulate this approach. Most editors say that the
to
A
Schwarzeneggers and Jean Claude Van Dammes provides
reporting of events that are by their nature sensational should
models for the nation's testosterone-driven young males.
not be confused with sensationalism. Just the fact that there
was extensive and thorough reporting on the Columbine
Nonetheless, entertainment industry executives do not readily
tragedy, for example, does not necessarily indicate a short-
accept blame for youth violence. In advance of a meeting at
coming on the part of the press. The Denver Post won a
the White House that President Bill Clinton convened to
Pulitzer Prizejournalism's most prestigious awardfor its
address the causes of violence by teenagers, David Geffen,
coverage of the events at Columbine. The newspaper said it
one of the founders of Dreamworks SKG film studio, said that
people may as well blame libraries for youth violence:
considered the recognition an acknowledgment that it had
"They're full of violent books," he said (Broder, 1999).
behaved in a compassionate and responsible way.
Another aspect of the media's relationship with schools
Video games are now ubiquitous and adults who take the
stems from the zero tolerance policies that are meant to draw
time to view them are shocked by the horrific content of some.
a line against violence at the schoolhouse door. These well-
One of the newest games, Soldier of Fortune, not only allows
intentioned policies have sparked some very clumsy results
a player, for just $45.99, to shoot and kill an enemy but to
often reported by the mediawhen schools are forced to
inflict all sorts of gradations of injury, from shooting off arms,
apply a one-penalty-fits-all consequence even to the least
to putting bullets into the enemy's throat, to putting a bullet in
the "right" place in the stomach to make the guts exude
provocation. The result can be a media circusalmost on the
level of the media's response to actual acts of violenceas
(Olafson, 2000). Lawyers have gone so far as to plead some
youthful perpetrators of violence innocent on the basis that
television stations and newspapers focus on some of the most
they were corrupted by watching videos and other violent
egregious enforcement practices, making school officials look
petty and foolish. In Sayreville, New Jersey, for instance, four
media.
But Henry Jenkins, a professor at the Massachusetts
kindergartners were suspended for three days after a play-
ground incident in which fingers were pointed as make-
Institute of Technology, said that critics have produced little
believe guns and threats were apparently exchanged. In
compelling evidence to suggest that video game violence
Larchmont, New York, an 11-year-old was suspended for
leads directly to real-world violence and that "much of the
reciting a poem to several girls on the playground: "Roses are
evidence that they do present has been exaggerated and sim-
red, violets are black. Your chest is as flat as your back."
plified" (Gillespie & d'Igital, 2000, p. 20). An author writing
Perhaps a wiser course, assert Curwin and Mendler (1999),
in Phi Delta Kappan came to a similar conclusion, though
might be a middle path that threads its way between being
with a different twist that put more of the responsibility in the
laps of parents: "[W]e don't have a problem with violent
firm and being fair.
Schools, being the educational institutions that they are,
video games or with the children who play them. We do have
should strive to use good educational practice rather than
a problem with parents who don't seem to be concerned, who
Draconian punishments to persuade students to eschew vio-
continue to buy or let their children buy violent video games,
lence. They should do so not because of the threat of embar-
and who then never supervise their children's often excessive
rassment in the media, but simply because it is good policy. A
playing of video games..." (Van Horn, 1999).
goal, as Hyman and Snook (2000) point out, should be the cre-
ation of educational models to reduce school violence rather
Media Responsibility on the Coverage of Violence
than enforcement models. This can mean paying closer atten-
tion to the school climate, practicing more democracy within
Intensive coverage of a few high-profile shootings may
mislead the public to think that violence in schools is perva-
schools, equipping students with conflict resolution skills, and
using peer mediation. Will such measures inoculate schools
sive. The media should not explode small occurrences into
major incidents; when the occasional major incident does
against violence? Not likely, but they may diminish the poten-
occur it should be kept in perspectivenot portrayed as the
tial for violence and lessen the need for policies that lead to
embarrassment in the media.
norm. Furthermore, the media should respect privacy to the
Finally, in the era of new technology, it is necessary to
degree possible and not trample on the rights of minors in
take account of an unsettling trend in the reporting of school
ways that threaten to destroy their psyches and even their
violence. The rush to be first with a story seemed to end with
Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media. (2000). A
journalist's primer on access to schools. New York:
the demise of newspaper competition, but the Internet may
Teachers College, Columbia University.
reinvigorate the urge. News is now available every second of
Hyman, I.A. (2000, March). Dangerous schools and what you
every day from every corner of the country, not to mention the
can do about them. Phi Delta Kappan 81(7), 488-501.
world. Newspapers increasingly update the news on their web
Koziey, P.W. (1996, Fall). Cutting the roots of violence.
sites at frequent intervals as they vie with distant rivals they
Education Canada, 36(3), 43-6. (EJ 538 178)
encounter only on the Internet. There may be a fresh surge of
Langdon, C., & Vesper, N. (2000, April). The sixth Phi Delta
competition as news organizations race to break stories on
Kappa poll of teachers' attitudes toward the public
their web sitesparticularly when the well-being of children
schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 81(8), 607-11.
inside school buildings is threatened. Add this new twist to the
Levine, M. (1996). Viewing violence: How media violence
continuing competition among the many broadcasters in each
affects your child's and adolescent's development. New
locale, and incidents of school violence in the future could be
York: Doubleday. (ED 402 085)
reported potentially in even more troubling fashion than
National Education Association. (2000). A guide for reporters
before. These changes in news reporting come at a time when
. & editors: Covering incidents of school violence.
young Americans, those under 30, increasingly do not read
Washington, DC: Author.
print editions of newspapers and may not even watch news
National Education Association. (n.d.). Open letter to our fel-
shows on television, preferring to get their newsif they care
low "teachers"A message from the classroom to the
about it at allfrom the Internet.
newsroom. Washington, DC: Author.
Olafson, P. (2000, May 4). Pushing the envelope for creative
Gene I. Maeroff,
violence. The New York Times, p. G9.
Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media,
Pompilio, N. (2000, January/February). Going for the fake.
Teachers College, Columbia University
American Journalism Review, 22(1), 29.
Primavera, L.H., Herron, W.G., & Jauier, R.A. (1996). The
effect of viewing television violence on aggression.
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This brief was developed by the Choices in Preventing Youth Violence initiative, with funding from the Metropolitan Life Foundation.
It was published by the Institute for Urban and Minority Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. The opinions expressed in
the brief do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the Metropolitan Life Foundation or Teachers College.
Choices in Preventing Youth Violence, Erwin Flaxman, Director, Teachers College, Box 228, Columbia University, 525 West 120th
Street, New York, NY 10027, 212/678-3158.
6
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